So Glenn has chosen Fordsdale for our long weekend, as
we know it won’t be crowded. We have the
most ideal spot in mind as well. I
couldn’t get a hold of David by phone to cancel, so sent him an email via his
website. I hope he’s not too upset that
we won’t be attending.
We leave at our usual time of 0800-ish and are on the
road and heading to our destination in no time.
The weather forecast is for perfect, with a possible shower or
storm. I think we can handle that.
Once at the entrance, we bypass all the formalities
and head straight to “our spot” on the hilltop beside Dead Horse Dam.
Crossing the second creek we hit an
obstruction and had to move some rocks into place so we didn’t hit the diff,
but crossed it easily after that.
As it’s been raining, we find that the dam actually
has water in it which will make driving along its rim too dangerous, so we find
a path through the grass above the catchment section and move the odd rock here
and there to get in. Glad we didn’t have
to winch ourselves in this time.
We noticed a few people up near the houses as we came in and gave them a wave, as well as Peter and Sue in their car. They yelled out that they would come see us later and I hope they do. I’d love to see their pups almost grown up. Otherwise we’ll catch up with them in due course. They know we won’t leave without seeking them out for a chat. As we turned down the track to our site, we passed a bus parked up along side the creek and track.
Once completely settled, there is almost nothing to do
but relax. Of course we’ll have to
check the creek level for swimming and are happy that this time we can hear it
gurgling its way past our campsite. It
will be wonderful to hear it from our comfy bed of a night.
Also this weekend, I’m going to try out the different
pieces of extra canvas we have and see what I can fit and where. On occasion we’ll need walls and I’m
determined not to purchase anything more if I don’t really have to.
Heading down to the creek, I take Telashi for a
swim. Really I’m trying to determine the
depth of the water. It’s about boob
height, so say 1m deep at the deepest point.
The water is quite cold, but very welcome in the heat of the day. Once you get used to it, it’s just beautiful
really.
A few 4WDs head past camp, coming down the inland track
from the campsite. Most just come down
for timber – we named one “LendLease” due to the vehicle signage and another
vehicle contained Justin who we have a brief chat with, his son Hudson and Harvey the chocolate Labrador
– who was literally busting to get out of the vehicle. Once out and on his lead, he seemed a huge
handful for the boy. I wish them luck
with him and we head off up the creek for a walk on foot, noting how the creek
has changed since we were last here. We
gather some timber for dinner, and have to put up the end wall as it starts to
spit a little.
Back at camp, we notice horse riders heading down the
Bicentennial Trail entrance and then across the creek towards the
homestead. We could hear them, but
couldn’t see them. I make a decision to walk
that trail in the coming days. The
horses will go past most days, and we note how many riders (usually 10 or less
in the groups) and always wondering which of the two pups are with Sue at the
time. Kiah sleeps at camp for the first time in a while, whilst it isn’t actually night which surprises us both. She is usually super alert at all times. I suppose at 10 years, I must admit that she is getting old.
Dinner tonight is a very good one … alfoil wrapped Thai fish and prawns done in the camp oven with fried potato slices on the grill plate, followed by Mud Cake. Wonderful stuff indeed!
The rest of the evening is spent around the OzPig with
drinks in hand and removing drowning bugs from them.
Settling into bed that night, the sound of the creek
spilling over the track is absolute bliss.
29.8AH
29.03.13
The next morning is overcast but bright. It will continue to alternate between sun and
cloud for the rest of the morning ending with a perfectly sunny afternoon.
We start the day with coffee about 0800 or so with no
real plans. Lazily we stay around camp
watching the day pass. The sun has a bit
of a sting to it, so 30+ ourselves.
Collecting some timber from the creek occupies some of our time.
After lunch, Glenn has a snooze, so I leave him a note
and take the handheld CB, a backpack and the dogs for a walk down to the far
end of the creek being still on the property.
A walk is a fantastic thing to do here as there are so many things to
investigate by horse, 4WD and with the track is pretty easy to do on foot.
Heading off up the creek, I let the dogs run
loose. I’m interested to see if our far
campsite has been occupied since we were there last. The creek itself has changed its course from
one side to the other. More debris has
built up from the rains of ex tropical cyclone Oswald, especially near our
camp, but it’s true all along the creek.
Passing over the creek towards our previous campsite,
I note the track has changed a little and I can see that a 4WD has been this
way recently. Once the lantana opens up
a bit, it’s obvious that no-one has camped here since we did. We were the first to camp here and our second
camp here was obviously the last of those willing to do so. Seems that Peter has been down here with a
tractor or dozer of some sort as I can see there has been some obvious earth
movement going on.
Heading back towards the creek again, I notice that
4WD has made it here as well. Crossing
over it’s immediate to see changes.
Large rocks that weren’t there before are now sitting right along side
the track. Seems the rain has washed
away some of the track too, making it a tighter fit for a 4WD … not impassable,
but certainly squeezy. The short drop
off would have me worried in a fourbie if the ground was slippery … and being
black soil it usually is.
It’s then I spot the cows on the track and I’m glad I
bought the dog leads with me. I lead
them up and we continue past a few cows.
The bull stops eating and stands his ground, watching us pass, but most
of the cows head further up the track, meaning we’ll have to follow them. Some of the younger ones freak out a bit and
head into the bushy creek, turn and stare after us.
To my right I can see Peter has done a lot of work
with the tractor / dozer. There now
appears to be a bit of a car park like cleared area. Not flat enough to camp on though. As I head around the next corner, its meaning
becomes clear. The track has been all
but washed away, and the clearing helped to provide some fill for it. As I walk over this portion, the ground drops
away to the left, the track itself becomes very tight, and the right hand bank
has a large rock coming of it. I
personally wouldn’t bring a fourbie this way, due to my lack of experience, but
it seems that someone has. I note the
track against the bank is also very mushy, so walk along the drop off side.
We follow the track further and cross the creek again
and I let the dogs off the leads again. This
whole time on-lead I’ve been teaching Kiah to “come behind” so that next time
we pass the cows I can get her to come back to behind me by voice alone. This way if she wanders ahead of me, I can
recall her easily to me and get her to stay behind me. I’m hoping the temptation of cows or
anything else for that matter can be over come by the command.
Ahead the track goes up hill and on the right is my
destination. Here there are deep pools
easily deep enough to swim. The
sandstone sides are steep on one side and the creek has meandered a track
through the centre. Once around the
corner, I see what I’m looking for … a deep swimming hole. I see things have changed since I was last
here. As I cross over to the steep side
to sit (there are rock shelves on which one can perch), I hear Glenn on the
CB. He is obviously awake and now
checking on me. I answer, but he can’t
hear me so I head upwards until I have a good sending signal. Glad I don’t have to go far. I’m probably 2k’s from camp. Glenn knows exactly where I am and that I’ll
be leaving here in about 15 minutes.
Letting the dogs have a swim, I remain perched on the
rock shelves enjoying the day.
Eventually it’s time to return to camp.
I test out “come behind” on Kiah as we walk and she proves to be a very
good student and we pass the bull again without incident or leads. No cows to be seen anywhere.
Over 1 ½ hours later I’m back at camp in need of a
drink and a swim, but feeling good after the exercise.
I’d also like to go for a walk towards the entrance
along the creek from camp. The plan is
to check on the height of another good swimming hole near the second crossing. We do and find it’s much deeper than last
time … just over my head … against the rock wall. We continue walking till we reach the
entrance and walk to the next crossing past it. We retrace our steps and find Justin and family
utilising the swimming hole near the entrance.
It’s very deep here and they are diving off the rock wall. It’s good to see them enjoying themselves.
I note that Peter has some fencing to do here, as he’s
putting in a new gate, but hasn’t finished it just yet. I’ll bet most farmers are reconstructing
fences due to the ex cyclone.
We head back to camp for some more relaxation and
another swim.
Tonight’s dinner will be roasted lamb and potatoes
with vegies. Yum! So we
set about preparing it and getting the fire started.
12.6AH
30.03.13
Today we drive where I walked yesterday. Glenn parks the ute at the new car park and
we walk the rest of the way to the swimming holes. As we are about to depart, we find LendLease
has followed us in. I hope he realises
he’s in for both a million point turn and some rock removal before he can head
back out. I’d love to stay and watch,
but Glenn wants to head out and see how many are camped at Heifer Creek. We stop along the way and check out a
possible ending to the Bicentennial Trail and see hoof prints which confirm
that they have come that way, but we can’t figure out from where as we don’t
see them starting out, just passing our camp on the opposite side through the
trees.
We head back to camp and then take the inner road to
the camp ground to see how many are camped this weekend. I note 2 tents, 2 camper trailers and 2 Jayco’s
up here. This will compliment the 2
campers at the entrance, 1 bus and 1 tent along the creek plus ourselves, not to mention the numerous horse riders.
Back on Wagners
Road , we spot Sue on a horse and stop to pay our
rent. She can’t chat as she has a riding
group with her, but promises to catch up later if she can. I’m not so sure she’ll be able to, as they
have been pretty much non-stop with the horses and riders.
We head out onto the main road and do the 3 or so
kilometres to Heifer Creek Rest Area, passing some road works along the
way. Seems Heifer Creek has been eating
away at the road lately. Once again,
this free camp is fairly popular with mostly caravans, ute top campers and
tents, but we have seen it busier. We
stop for a little while and check the status of the creek beneath the
bridge. It’s flowing and looks different
to the last time we were here. We can
hear the gentle hum of a generator and are glad we can’t hear the same from our
campsite.
We head back to camp and see that Peter has fixed the
fence.
As we are heading back to camp, it starts to sprinkle
and soon we find that it sets in for a bit.
We weatherproof camp and note the horses going past again, as well as
some walkers along the creek, who I have a quick chat to and find they are in
the tent further up from us. Although
they’ve crossed the creek they still have dry feet, but admit that’s the only
bit that’s dry.
Earlier this weekend, we thought about ways of
utilising the extra canvas we have. It’s
for the offside (drivers side) and I feel sure it can be used as extra
weatherproofing on the existing awning, so we gave it a whirl and although it’s
not perfect, it fits well enough to keep sun and rain off, as well as giving us
a bit of privacy. It’s worked out quite
well for us this weekend, so we’ll be using it as such again for sure.
Glenn wants to walk the Bicentennial trail and see
where it goes, because we keep seeing the horse riders coming that way. I pointed out a possible ending spot this
morning on our drive and I’m almost sure this is where we’ll end up. We don our wet weather gear and brollies and
head along the trail. At the highest
point we come across riders and one of the pups, so put leads on the dogs and
get off the trail to let them pass.
Once they’ve passed us we walk the rest of the trail
and confirm it comes out where we thought it did this morning and then continue
back to camp along the 4WD track we drove earlier.
Although the rain isn’t heavy, so far it’s
constant. So plan to keep an eye on the
creek levels in case it rises too much for us to cross safely.
Dinner tonight is steak and vegies. So we start the OzPig in the rain and watch
the flames flicker as we sit and ponder our situation. Getting flooded in does cross our minds, but
we have food for another dinner if required, but we are fairly sure it won’t
get that serious. At least we’ll always
have a nice fire to stare at, as we can cover the fire with a plate. Alas, the Pig isn’t as pretty looking as it
used to be. After lots of wet trips it’s
looking very rusty and not the oven black from it’s first days with us. May have to sand it back and give it a coat
of paint but obviously not today.
I season the steak and let it sit for awhile then
prepare the vegies so they are ready for when we want to start cooking. That done, it’s just a matter of sitting back
with drink in hand and enjoying the sound of rain on the canvas … not a hard
thing to do by any means. Keeping the
dogs out of the rain is a priority as the smell of wet dog is not something we
wish to breathe in all night.
With dinner out of the way, we settle early to bed to
listen to the rain on the canvas.
36.5AH
31.03.13
Next morning dawns and the rain has passed. It’s still a bit 50 / 50 with cloud cover and
we wait for the canvas to dry.
Getting breakfast and the dishes out of the way, we
start our slow pack up process ensuring that all is clean, neat and tidy as we
go. Packing up the Pig, making the bed,
stowing clothes and pillows, putting the ensuite away and lashing down the
toilet … all these things take time and before we know it lunch time comes
around. Of course, we are still in
relaxation mode, so nothing happens too quickly.
I make some cairns by the creek ... I wonder if anyone will notice them.
The canvas slowly dries and we pack things up just in case of a sudden downpour. Our plan to spin the camper around like last time, using brute force, can’t be achieved, so we attempt a 700 point turn and manage to get the rig spun around in no time and with little frustration.
The canvas slowly dries and we pack things up just in case of a sudden downpour. Our plan to spin the camper around like last time, using brute force, can’t be achieved, so we attempt a 700 point turn and manage to get the rig spun around in no time and with little frustration.
As the track will still be a bit on the slippery side,
I chicken out of being in the vehicle through the crossings and take photos
from the track while Glenn works his way down each tricky bit. Once over tricky crossing # 1, I jump in and
guide him across tricky crossing # 2.
This one is indeed tricky due to some track missing as your turn out of
the creek, so I guide Glenn up the bank as far as I can, before getting him to
turn in. The camper follows him well
enough if a bit to the wrong side, but he makes it through with no damage or
scary moments for me. I run further up
the track until it’s safe for him to stop and collect me. From here on the track is grassed and will be
easy to follow without assistance.
We get out onto the road and Glenn realises that Peter
is following us, so pulls over. We have
a bit of chat and then he pulls ahead of us on his way back home, with us
following at a distance.
Once on the main road, the return trip is uneventful,
but we do get to see Peter turn into this home property before we head into
Gatton.
Once on the highway the trip home goes far too quickly
and before long we are unpacking our bits and bobs with a sigh and resigning
ourselves to the suburban work life once more.
Either way you look at it, I can’t wait for our next
trip! I also tried out a new lens for my
camera this trip due to the sudden death of my kit lens. I’m sure I’ll get better with it as time
progresses.
Trip Kilometres:
281
Trip Duration: 96 hours
1 comment:
Thanks for your blog! David at Yandilla was correct, it was VERY busy. Still hope to go back soon.
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